The creative team behind The Authority, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, reunite for a maxi-12 issue Batman series, The Batman’s Grave. In this fairly decent first issue, Batman investigates the unexplained death of a man who was seemingly obsessed with the Batman - but why and who killed him?
There’s not a whole lot here that’ll blow you away - it’s your average setting-up-the-premise first issue. There’s a generic scene of Batman stopping a street crime (honestly, why do Gotham muggers even bother??) and yet another exchange between Bruce and Alfred about what good Batman does vs what good Bruce Wayne could do to the city with his money - I’m getting a little tired of that sort of conversation, particularly as it never amounts to anything anytime it appears. The answer is, because he’s Batman and he’s gotta keep having adventures for the audience - why pretend there’s any other choice!?
Still, Ellis writes a decent Alfred with some strong dialogue: “You immerse yourself in the dead, Master Bruce. And you come back each time a little less alive. The only thing your grave is missing is a date.” I’m not a huge fan of Hitch’s art but it’s quite good-looking here even if some splash pages felt a bit indulgent - if there’s gonna be more of that, I can see why this is going to be 12 issues long!
What this reminded me of was the superb movie Se7en, particularly John Doe’s Sloth victim - for the creep factor alone, coupled with Ellis writing (he remains one of my favourite comics writers and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do with Batman - assuming the series is released in full rather than abruptly cancelled due to recent allegations against Ellis), I’m intrigued to see where this story will go despite an unremarkable, if perfectly fine, first issue.
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